


No One Is Special Like You

by Finally_Facing_Failure



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Falling In Love, Firebending, M/M, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-16 09:24:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8096704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finally_Facing_Failure/pseuds/Finally_Facing_Failure
Summary: Dean Winchester lives in a world where having superpowers is completely ordinary. He has a crazy obsession with this blue-eyed boy in his class.Are Dean's powers dangerous? What is Castiel trying to hide?





	1. The Blue-Eyed Boy

In a world where everyone is gifted, standing out is impossible. And yet he managed. 

With one small smile, he had everyone’s attention. With one laugh, people rushed to obey him. With one word, he could make the world end. Good thing he was so quiet.  
It was a gift in a way, his ability to make people love him, yet I doubted that was the gift his parents bestowed upon him. I don’t think a lot of people knew his gift. I sure as hell didn’t and I had been trying to figure it out for years.

My gift was obvious, as easy to see as a torch in a sea of darkness. Quite literally actually, my gift was to create fire. It wasn’t very original, there were at least three other people in our class who could do the same. Apparently my parents had also realised their unoriginality, because my younger brother had a very special gift: he could remember everything he read. It was part of the reason he had such amazing grades.

The bell rang, signalling it was time to take our places around the practice ring, the ‘fighting ring’ as I called it (because it looked like a boxing ring). I took a seat exactly opposite of the boy with the perfect blue eyes. Castiel. Even his name showed he was special. My friends quickly crowded around me, and so did a couple of people that were dying to be my friend. I was one of the more talented students of our class, which instantly meant I was one of the popular ones. Whatever, I didn’t care much for popularity.  
We started the day with a few rounds of what I liked to call: showing off. If you wanted, you could show what you had been working on with your gifts. There were always a few kids who were so desperate for attention that they’d willingly stand in front of everyone, trying to muster up the power to produce a single flame, or trying to play a tune that had to put everyone in the room to sleep. It almost never worked though.

I actually was able to produce flames in the fighting ring, but I didn’t usually. I had to once, when the teacher called on me, and I impressed everyone with a few flames shooting from my fingertips. Please, I could easily produce an entire parade of flames, had I been keen on doing so. At home I practiced. I sat in our back yard, as my little brother Sammy watched me for hours. It was easy for me, but I worked hard regardless. When Sam was a little snothead, I used make the stories I read him come to life by using flames as illustrations.

My dad didn’t want me to though, so I always had to do that behind his back. You see, when I was four, and Sammy was just a baby, our mother died in a fire. My father had always told me I had started it, because of my uncontrollable powers. I had always believed him, and I felt incredibly guilty. My dad told me not to worry, because accidents happened all the time around young people with powers. As my powers were so incredibly strong, my ‘accident’ had cost my mother her life.  
That was also part of the reason I preferred not to use my power in the ring, I was afraid I’d hurt someone. Sammy wasn’t afraid of me and my powers, and somehow I wasn’t afraid of hurting him. I somehow knew he’d be fine. 

Today nobody had decided to face the total humiliation of the ring, and so random people were called forward to demonstrate what they could do. My friend Charlie had to go up and perform her power, which was to create hallucinations. She often chose to do nerdy things with her power, and this time was no exception. She made everyone who was looking at her see a scene from The Lord Of The Rings. My friends Jo, Ash and Benny were laughing their asses of, but I was ignoring Charlie in favour of looking at Castiel some more.

God, he was perfect. I don’t know why I found it so hard to just go up to him and talk, as I was usually confident enough to speak to anybody. Suddenly, people were applauding, and I realized I’d just missed Charlie’s entire show. Whoops… I actually enjoyed watching Charlie perform. Not just because of her choice of entertainment, but because she was the only other person who could match me. In her case it wasn’t talent though. No, Charlie actually worked her ass off to be good. There were only a handful of people in our class that even bothered to practise.

About 200 years ago, scientists found a way to insert ‘superpowers’ into the DNA of humans. When they did so, the government decided to fund parents to get this surgery done on every child that was older than two months. After a generation or two, everyone had powers, so the government decided to make the bestowing of powers upon children mandatory. It was illegal to not have a power by the age of ten months, because you’d be disadvantaged. If a parent did not choose a power, the government would randomly select one.

Nowadays, people were finally starting to realize that everyone having superpowers could be a terrible thing. Criminals could turn invisible, terrorists could make explosions without bombs and accidents like my mom’s were more and more common. There was talk of an illegal group of parents, trying to make sure their kid didn’t have powers, but the government usually found out anyway. As far as I knew, there were maybe ten people alive who did not have a power.  
At our school, teachers were forced to encourage us to give our future kids powers, but some made it quite clear they didn’t actually think it was such a good idea. I was against powers myself, though I would never voice that opinion out loud, for fear of being arrested.

I was vaguely aware of the bell ringing, so I stood up and headed to my first class: English. I had this class with Charlie and Jo, so I’d be fine. The class after this one was a different story completely. I had chemistry, but I had absolutely no idea what I was doing most of the time. I had no friends in that class, and there was an uneven number of students, so I had no one to help me. There were some girls who offered to abandon their partner to be mine, but I’d declined. I didn’t really want to be partnered up with some girls that only like me for my power.

 

I basically talked my way through English, and now I was sitting at my desk for chemistry. I had my headphones in, and they were blearing My Chemical Romance. I was also very busy ignoring the girls that would inevitably try to talk to me. Therefore, I did not notice when someone sat at the desk next to me, until they tapped my shoulder.  
“Jesus Christ! What the actual fuck!” I yelled, turning to see a certain blue-eyed boy sitting next to me. My throat went dry and I was gaping at Castiel. “My apologies, I did not notice you had music on. I just wondered if you could be your lab partner this semester, my friend ,Crowley, moved away, so I have no one.”

I just nodded and pretended to be extremely interested in miss Mills, who’d just entered the room. “Okay class, open your books to page 14, and no shitting about please! Today we’ll be doing experiment three b. Please get started, and remember to ask if you do not understand something, before setting my beautiful lab on fire!”  
I sighed, not bothering to open my book. Instead, I watched Castiel as he carefully read the experiment. When he noticed my lack of participation, he raised one eyebrow. “Dean, please get the required objects from the front of the class. I don’t want you to just sit here and make me do all the work.” 

Holy shit, Castiel actually knew my name… I just nodded again, no doubt looking like a complete idiot. We did the experiment, and I noticed that actually trying to do it right sort of helped me understand what we were supposed to do (shocker). At the end of the class, I slowly grabbed my books, trying to savour my time with Castiel.  
“Well Dean, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Castiel said, nodding at me. “See ya, Cas.” I said, for the first time all hour not sounding like I was just learning to speak.

The next day I went to school early, which earned me some weird looks from my dad and Sam. I sat around the ring, waiting for assembly to start and hoping to see Cas again. Charlie sat next to me and launched into a story about the book she’d finished the night before, but I was distracted because Castiel walked in and he looked absolutely adorable. His hair was messy, and some part of me wanted to pet it or something. Just then our teacher walked in and asked for volunteers. When no one wanted to go on (seriously? Nobody again?), she flipped through our name list, and randomly asked someone to go on.

“Castiel Novak? Castiel could you please go on up and show us what you can do?”  
I looked at Cas, and saw his face show complete terror, as if she’d asked him to take of his pants. He glared at her, as tears were visibly forming in his eyes. He then spoke, and ran away right after. 

“I can’t, I’m sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys!  
> Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions as to how this story should continue!


	2. The Circus

Dean watched as Castiel opened his backpack and got out his books during math class. He watched as Castiel took notes and payed attention to the teacher. He watched and watched and watched, until he was sure that Cas didn’t look different then before the incident that morning. Weird as it had been, Castiel seemed to be fine. Why was it that he freaked out so much before, but seemed completely normal now? 

Charlie, who was sitting next to Dean, cleared her throat in order to get his attention, but Dean was still obsessively staring at Castiel so he did not notice. “Dean? Dean!” Charlie said, speaking just above a whisper so that the teacher didn’t hear her. “Seriously Dean?” Charlie said frustrated. “Dean stop staring at Castiel like he’s the ring and you’re Sméagol!” Charlie said, just a little too loud. The entire class, including Dean and Castiel, had heard her and were now looking at Dean.

“Wow thanks Charlie. You probably have never heard of just nudging someone have you?” Dean said, irritated. “Well sorry, I just can’t get through to you when you’re staring at your crush.” Charlie smiled. “He’s not my crush, geez woman!” Charlie laughed at Dean’s reaction. “Yeah and I’m Dumbledore. You so obviously like him!” She said, careful to keep her voice down this time. “I don’t. Can we please stop talking about this?” Dean sighed.

“Whatever, what I wanted to ask you was whether or not you were going to the circus this week, because I seriously need a pretend date.” “Charlie, literally everyone knows you are gay, nobody will believe I’m your date.” Dean said, raising one eyebrow. “Yeah I know, it’s just that this girl I want to take, she’s… Uhm….” Charlie started, but drifted off. “What? Did you pick someone up at work again, or is it blind dating this time?” Dean laughed. “Something like that…” Charlie said, looking a bit sad. Dean felt guilty immediately, he was Charlie’s best friend, he wasn’t supposed to make fun of her. “Sorry Charlie, I didn’t mean that. I’ll go with you all right? I haven’t been to the circus in months, it should be fun.” Charlie smiled at him, grateful. “I’ll ask some other people to come too okay? It can be a group date!” Dean smiled at his friend’s enthusiasm. “Okay, invite whoever you want.” 

The circus was this thing the schools in their area had every month. Some performers from around the country came to perform at a local barn. It was a different group every time, and you never really knew what you were going to get. Most people who performed their powers, weren’t actually that powerful until they worked really hard for it. Therefore, if a group didn’t all practice a lot beforehand, the performance was a complete bust.

They’d had their share of performers that turned out to just be shit. There were fire breathers who had forgotten to practice, and weren’t even able to create flames at all. There had been horse whisperers who were still drunk during the show, and athletes that fainted when they stood up to fast. 

This world, filled with unbelievable power, could be so wonderful. There’s so much beauty here, everywhere we go, but we ruin it by being vain and arrogant. We want our powers for their beauty and might, but only if it’s easy. As soon as we have to work for it, we stop dead in our tracks, only to realize there’s no going back. I guess that is part of the reason I want the not having of powers to be legal again, so that not everyone gets to be special. Some people just simply do not deserve it. 

In all my thinking I did not hear the bell ring, so I’m taken aback a little when everyone starts leaving. Charlie laughs at me, and together we walk to our next class, which we have with Jo and Benny. When Charlie settles in next to Jo and I sit next to Benny, the teacher walks in, looking excited. “Good morning everyone! Please all take your seats, I have incredible news regarding the circus this week!” 

I laugh a little at the teacher. His name is Garth, and he’s a bit weird. He’s this scrawny little guy, who just so happens to be a genius and a giant nerd. Charlie especially likes him, because he makes a lot of pop-culture references that only she really understands. He’s a good teacher though, I’ve never really been good at art, but it’s not so bad when he’s teaching you.

“Okay, quiet now. This Friday evening, at the circus, the group that will be performing has some talent scouts with them!” Everyone around me started mumbling excitedly, but I wasn’t really interested. “They want to ask some students from our schools to perform!” Garth said, and the entire class started talking to one another.   
“You should perform Dean!” Said Jo, tapping me on my shoulder. “You know that’s not my thing.” I sighed. “Brother, you are the best fire bender in the entire state. You’d definitely be picked and you could make a fortune performing!” Benny said. Just as I was going to explain (again) that I did not want to be a performer, Garth spoke again, loud enough to be heard over the chaos.

“However, every school only gets to submit ten students, five of which are to be picked by the school. The other five are chosen randomly.” A lot of people looked disappointed. If the school was going to pick, they were going for the kids that performed well in the ring. If you hadn’t really practised for the ring, and therefore haven’t really performed well, you were most likely not going to get to perform in the circus.

“The people that are going to perform won’t know until Friday at the circus, so going is mandatory for everybody. Please all think of something you’d want to do in the circus, so that you know what to do in case you get picked. Now, please get some paint from the back of the class, today we’ll be working on still lives.”

 

To say I was upset with the chosen arrangement would be an understatement. I knew the school would want to impress the schools in our area, so they would choose me to perform, as I was clearly one of the more talented students. I so wasn’t looking forward to standing in front of thousands of people and giving some sort of show that wouldn’t make my teachers want to kill me.

Fine. They wanted a show? They were going to get one. As soon as I got home, I locked myself and Sammy into our shared bedroom, making sure our dad couldn’t come in. Together we thought of shapes and things that I could try to act out with flames. After an hour I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do. Sammy, however, did not have the slightest idea what he wanted to do. There’s not much you can do when you’re power is remembering things.

I called Charlie, who was just done hanging out with Jo. When she heard that I was actually ready to perform, she was extremely surprised and she laughed at me. “Charlie, can I ask you something?” I said, not sure whether or not I should bother bringing this up. “Yeah sure nerd, go for it!” She laughed. “What is your opinion on the idea that having no powers should be legalised?” I said quietly.

She was quiet for a little while, probably making sure no one could hear us. It was technically legal to discuss this, but some people saw it as treason and you could still be sent to jail. “I think that our world would be a lot better if powers were earned, not just given. Why are you thinking about this Dean? It’s dangerous.” Charlie said in a hushed voice.  
“I don’t know, I just figured it was time we stood up for our ideas. I’m tired of not being allowed to have an opinion on this. These powers are dangerous, there have been numerous accidents because of them and I just don’t want to live in a world where I don’t get to decide whether or not my children have freaky supernatural abilities.”

“Dean… What happened that night is not your fault.” Charlie whispers, voice evidently breaking a little. Charlie was the only person who knew what I went through that night. Even Sammy didn’t know how I feel about it emotionally. “I don’t want to talk about it, if that’s okay.” I say, before excusing myself and hanging up.

Sometimes when I try to use my powers, I get really scared. I start seeing the flames again, and my father’s face as he told me to take Sam and go outside. Most of my memories from that night are a blur of fire and sirens, but there were a couple of things that were completely clear: me running outside with Sammy in my arms, the firemen arriving and after an hour my dad explaining how mummy didn’t make it out of the fire. 

There’s something else I remember, but I’m not so sure if it was real or not. When I ran outside with Sam, three little boys were outside on the street. When they saw me, all but one went inside their house. They moved away from us after the fire, apparently the mother of their family passed away of a heart attack. I never got the chance to ask the boys if they were there or not, and I don’t really know anyone who still knows who lived in that house at the time of the fire.

 

The week passed in a blur of school and hanging out with Sammy and my friends. Before I knew it, I was picking out clothes for the circus. I went for a pair of black skinny jeans with a green shirt that Charlie said brought out my eyes. Sam and I picked up Charlie, Benny and Jo in my black 67 Chevy Impala, and together we drove to the huge hall were the circus was held every month. It was incredibly crowded, as usually not a lot of people went to these things.

Charlie managed to get us front-row seats though, by convincing some young girls that some boys in the back were ‘so totally into ya’ll!’. The show started when Balthasar, the owner of the accommodation, who told us in what order the schools would be performing: our school would go first, then Southview High and lastly Mountainridge Institute.   
Our school started with the randomly chosen students. First there was a boy named Samandriel, who completely sucked at trying to grow plants out of the sand on the circus floor. Next was one of Sammy’s friends, Jess. She was actually not that bad, who could camouflage herself. Number three was Claire. She didn’t even try, just explained that she had enhanced smell and that it sucked. Four was this guy I didn’t know who transformed his own fingers into carrots, which was just creepy.

I was just done making fun of the guy with Benny, when the next name was called. “Castiel Novak?” I look around me, and spot Cas a few rows behind us. He’s sitting next to his sister Naomi, who’s trying to convince him to go on. He just repeatedly shakes his head and people start whispering.

“Do you think he’s scared?” “Who is that?” “I think he has no power at all!”

Everyone starts talking a bit louder, until people are yelling, screaming at Cas. They’re saying he’s a traitor, that his entire being is illegal. They’re telling him to leave and threatening him. Castiel just stands up and runs away, his sister left behind. I don’t know what happens, but seeing Cas so upset makes something snap inside of me.  
“Shut up!” I yell, and a few people listen. “Stop talking about him! Leave him alone!” After a few seconds, Naomi joins me, yelling louder than I’d imagined from such a tiny girl. Charlie, Jo and Benny join too, although confused. Soon everyone is quiet, which surprises me a bit, I didn’t know I could have that effect on people.  
The teacher comes on stage again, speaking rapidly. “For those of you wondering, Mr. Novak does in fact have a gift, he just wishes to not demonstrate this power. We shall turn to the students our school has chosen tonight!”

First up was Becky, who was this creepy girl who’d had a crush on Sammy a few years back, before dating this quiet guy named Chuck. I had to admit though, she was really good. She could make herself taller and smaller whenever she wanted, and it was quite amusing to look at.

Charlie was up next, giving everyone a nice view of Harry Potter making out with Draco Malfoy, until Miss Mills stopped her, although she was chuckling herself. I was called up next, which didn’t surprise me, but I was really nervous all of the sudden. I gave Sammy a thumbs up, and made my way up stage.

I started my show with some random flames of fire, dancing around, getting close to the public, but not so close it’d be dangerous. Then I started making shapes, people made out of fire. They told a story, one that not everyone would understand, but one with a message. The fire-people each showed a particular gift, and in the end they all started killing each other. I saw my audience looking intrigued, and I smiled and decided to up my game. My flames became bigger, the story more intense.

All of the sudden I started to see flames that weren’t mine, and faces that weren’t there. I heard my dad yelling my mom’s name, I heard Sammy’s cries and the sirens. Suddenly I was back in my childhood home, and watched it be consumed by flames. I fell backward and was numbly aware of Charlie calling my name. The last thing I remembered was Benny’s strong arms lifting me, and a voice that sounded like my own screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's another chapter! I'm probably going to add one or two more, but I don't expect this to be a very long story


	3. The story

 When I opened my eyes, everything was white. There was steady beeping, soft voices and I felt someone holding my hand. I started waking up a little, and I realized the voices I heard where Sam and Charlie’s. I couldn’t make out what they were saying though, and before I could focus I fell asleep again.

When I woke next, I could actually wake up enough to take in my surroundings properly. I was in a hospital room, I wasn’t alone, there were some other beds, but everyone in them seemed to be asleep. The room was white, but there were blue curtains, and red chairs. In one of the chairs in the far end of the room sat Charlie, asleep. She looked really peaceful, more relaxed than I’d ever seen her before.

I cringe when I remember what had gotten me here: I fainted in front of everyone my age that lived within ten miles of my home. Great. I sat up, seeing if I could without feeling dizzy. Everything appeared to be fine, so I tried standing up and walking. I was perfectly fine, so I didn’t quite understand why I was in a hospital bed anyway. There wasn’t something going on with me, was there?

Just as I was about to wake Charlie, I noticed someone staring at me from across the room. It was a little dark in the room, but his blue eyes were bright enough to make me recognise him within a second. Castiel. He cleared his throat, looking unsure of himself. “Hello Dean. You shouldn’t be standing yet, please lay down.”

He sounded calm, but by the way he kept fidgeting with his hands, I figured that was just an act. I just stood there, staring at him for a moment, before sitting down. Why was he here? He and I weren’t exactly friends. “Why do you care?” I asked, keeping my voice cold and distant.

Cas gulped, and he wiped his hands on his jeans. “I apologise for intruding, I merely wanted to see if you were okay.” He says. He starts walking toward the door, but he seems to change his mind midway. “My sister said you stopped people from talking about me behind my back in the circus. Why did you do that?” He says, tilting his head. “Why do YOU care?” He adds.

I feel my face burning red. “Just cause. They were mean. I stopped them, or whatever.” Cas smiles, amused. “Dean, I-“ But he gets interrupted by a nurse walking in. “Castiel! Glad to see you’re still here!” Of course Castiel would’ve already charmed the nurse with his cute head tilt and his sweet smile. Cas smiles at her, before turning his attention back to me.

It is then the nurse notices me. “Well look who’s up! My name is Nurse April. How are you feeling? Any nausea?” She says, and I immediately hate her chirpiness. “I’m okay. I just fainted, didn’t I? It was nothing more?” I say, nervously. “Of course dear! We did some tests, but you seem to be in perfect health!” She smiles.

I wait for her to continue, but she doesn’t. I frown at her, but Cas is the only one that notices. He lifts one eyebrow at me and I shoot him a dirty look before asking the nurse why I am still here. She seems taken aback by my question, as her face falls momentarily. “Oh dear, we’re just waiting for someone to sign you out of the hospital! As soon as a parent or legal guardian comes here to check you out, you’re good to go!”

Right. My only legal guardian was John Fucking Winchester, and he was probably so drunk off his ass that he won’t bother to check his phone for another couple of days. Does that mean I’m stuck here all weekend?

Castiel clears his throat again, gaining April’s attention. “Actually, my brother would be willing to sign Dean out. I know he’s not technically Dean’s guardian, but Dean’s family and ours used to live across the street from one another. My brother’s taken care of Dean and his brother a lot when their dad was… Away.” He says, flashing the nurse an adorable smile. One that she falls for completely. “Well, I’m not really supposed to… Is your brother old enough?” She asks, uncertain.

“Yes he is. He’s actually waiting in the hallway, ready to sign the papers of Dean’s release.” Cas says, full of confidence. The nurse smiles at him, nodding. “Well, all right then. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes Dean. Please wait until then to get ready to leave though.”

I stare at Cas. Why did he go through such length to help me? We’d barely uttered more than a couple of sentences at one another in the last couple of years. As soon as the nurse leaves I dare to speak. “What the hell Cas? Why are you lying to her?” “I’m just trying to help you out.” He says defensively. “And it wasn’t all a lie. I did actually live across from you for a while.” He mutters.

“You did?” I say, my voice barely audible. “Yeah. After that my mom passed away.” He says, staring at his feet. He then lifts his eyes to stare into mine, guilt written all over his face. Cas’ family was the one that lived across me at the time of the fire? Does that mean that the blue eyed boy I saw was him?

“Castiel. Do you remember the fire?” I asked, anger noticeable in my voice. He gulps, his eyes darting away from mine. “Yes. I heard you were screaming about it before you fainted.” He says quietly. “Were you…” I try to speak, but my voice breaks. Castiel seems to get it though, as he walks over to my bed and sits down at the very edge.

“I was. There, I mean.” He says, tears forming in both of our eyes. “Do you want to hear the whole story?” I suddenly feel guilty for being angry with him, he seems really bothered by all this. “If you’re willing to tell it.” I say. “I believe I have no choice, even though you might never look at me the same.” He flashes me a nervous smile, and then he begins to speak.

“My mother was a very special woman. She believed most of her life that she hadn’t been given a power. She didn’t feel powerful, and as her parents died when she was very little, she had no one to tell her the truth.

“The truth was that she had the power to prophesize. This power is uncommon, as it is thought of as a burden upon the child. It was a burden for my mother, I suppose. She couldn’t actively practise her power, and therefore it was very faint. She only ever had one vision: that her children were associated with fire. She was confused, as it didn’t specify what was going to happen. Her solution was to give half of her children the power of fire bending, and make the other half fire-proof.

“And so Michael, Gabriel and I became fire-proof, and Lucifer, Anna and Naomi were fire benders. One day on a cold November evening, Lucifer, Gabriel and I were playing on the street, with Lucifer’s ball. Gabriel accidently threw it in the backyard of the house opposite of ours, and he was afraid to go get it. Before Lucifer could make him go, our mother called us for dinner.

“Lucifer got his revenge though, in a way. The same night, around midnight, he woke Gabriel and me up to go and get his ball. I was only four, Gabriel was seven, and Luci was twelve. Gabe and I were so afraid of getting caught, but we went anyway. I only went along because Lucifer threatened to beat me up if I didn’t come. He had a way of getting people to do what he wanted, and it wasn’t by asking nicely.

“So we went into the garden, only to found out the ball was gone. Lucifer got very upset, and when fire benders get upset, they tend to lose control. He accidently blazed fire at the back of the house, into a window on the second floor. Everything after that is blurry. We stood there for a minute, watching the horrible sight of the house catching fire. When we heard screams coming from the house, we were shook awake, and realized we had to leave immediately. My brothers went inside of our house right away, but I-“

“You stayed behind and watched me run outside with Sammy in my arms.” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks. I can’t believe this, Castiel, the boy I’d been obsessing over for ages, was the same boy that watched as my life went up in flames. He just stood there, even though he was fire-proof, and looked as the fire fighters came and tried, unsuccessfully, to pull my mom out of there alive. He watched and didn’t help, but what was worse is that he never let anyone know what had happened.

Every day of my life, I had to live with that all-consuming guilt. The guilt of setting my house on fire and making it out, at the cost of my mother’s life. He’d known. He’d know that I was innocent, that it was all just a mistake! But he’d let me rot in my misery.

 

The following days were a haze of faces and voices, but I don’t remember much of it. I didn’t speak to anyone that weekend, not even Charlie or Sam. I quietly stared out of my window for hours, watching people pass our house. They look so tiny, so unimportant, but I know that any one of them could be a part of a past I did not remember.

Gabriel had brought Charlie and me home, but I didn’t thank him. I didn’t even speak to him for that matter. I could hear Castiel catching him up on what had happened, and after that he didn’t bother talking to me anymore. I had told Charlie in as few words as possible what Cas had told me, and she shushed all of Castiel’s attempts to apologise.

I was angry with him, but soon anger turned into hurt, and hurt turned into tears. I had liked Castiel, had trusted him without any good reason, and he broke that trust. I don’t understand why I’m so upset, I have friends, I don’t need him. Charlie, Jo and Benny could make me feel better in under three minutes. If only I’d pick up my phone.

It was Monday now, and I was facing the inevitability of school, of seeing him. I know that he wasn’t the one that killed my mother, but the fact he’d shut up about it was enough for me. All morning, I hoped I wouldn’t see him at the ring. And I didn’t. And all day, I couldn’t stop thinking about where he was.

He didn’t show up on Tuesday. Or Wednesday. And by Thursday I was convinced he was avoiding me. So I picked up my life again, I started talking more and pretending I was fine. I pretended I was checking out girls with Benny, but in reality I was thinking of Cas. I pretended to be listening to Jo tell about her job at her mother’s Roadhouse, but I was checking his usual seat across from me around the ring.

On Friday, Charlie decided that I was hopeless, so she tried to convince me to go see him. “I know what he did Dean, but come on, he was four! You can’t hold him responsible for that!” She argued. “I don’t care, he didn’t tell me until he was seventeen, that’s plenty of time to hold him responsible for.” I mumbled, pretending to be extremely interested in my homework. “Dean seriously, just go to him!” Charlie says, putting her hand on mine.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Hey, I totally forgot to ask! Where was your mystery girl last Friday? I didn’t see her!” I said, instantly feeling guilty for forgetting. “Oh, she was there.” Charlie says, as she picks up her pen and furiously starts writing. “Well… Are you going to tell me who it was?” I laugh, grabbing the pen from her hand. She just sighs and looks me dead in the eye.

“It’s Jo.”

I look at her for a second, trying to decipher if the look on her face means she’s serious or not. She doesn’t break my glare though, so I can only assume she meant what she said. Suddenly it starts making sense. I’d always written their constant touching and staring off as crap that girls do with each other, but maybe it was more than that.

“That’s great Charlie, really. I’m happy for you two.” I say, wrapping one arm around her. She smiles, seemingly relieved. “Thanks Dean. You’re the first person we’ve told, not even Benny knows. It’s just so awkward you know, because everyone knows we’re friends.” I smile at her, and together we fall into easy conversation.

 

It’s Monday again, evening now, and Castiel still hasn’t shown up for school. I’m breaking every rule I made about him in my head, but I need to see him. I need to know if he’s okay. And so I find myself knocking on his front door, hoping he’ll be the one to open. It’s not though, it’s a man in his late twenties, with the same piercing blue eyes as Cas.

I wonder for a second if this is Lucifer, but as I introduce myself of a friend of Castiel’s bringing homework, the man smiles brightly at me and introduces himself as Michael. “Come on in, Dean! Castiel is upstairs, in bed. He just got released from the hospital, but I’m sure you knew that.” Michael says, pointing at the large staircase.

The hospital? Why was Cas in the hospital? I hadn’t heard anything about this at school. I follow Michael up the stairs, to a door that’s big and wooden. He knocks and opens the door, revealing Castiel, with bruises all over his face and arms. He’s lying in bed, so I don’t see the rest of his body, but I’m sure it’s just as bad. His eyes go big as soon as he sees me, but Michael doesn’t seem to notice. He picks up a half-empty tray with food, and walks out the door. “Call if you need anything!”

Cas stares at me, not saying a word. I stare back, not quite knowing what to say to him. I walk over to him and sit on a chair next to his bed. “Hi.” I internally hit myself for that. I’m just showing up randomly at his house, and the first thing I say is. ‘Hi’. What the heck is wrong with me?

Cas smiles a little, fiddling with his sheets. He doesn’t respond to me at first, and when he does, it’s not what I expected him to say. “Dean I can’t talk to you right now.” I frown at him, surprised. “I don’t really care Cas. You hurt me, big time. The least you can do is tell me why you were in the hospital.” He looks away, eyes filling with tears as he quietly whispers something.

“What did you say? I didn’t hear you.” I say, leaning in closer. “Lucifer.” Cas says, looking up at me. My eyes go big and I can barely refrain from punching the wall above Castiel’s head. “He did this to you?” I say, louder than I wanted. Cas flinches and he moves away from me a little. “Sorry, I just- I can’t believe this! He hurt you, physically hurt you, because you were honest? Who even told him?” I say, trying to keep my voice down.

“Naomi did.” Cas sighs. “She didn’t really mean to, but she saw him the day after our fight and accidently slipped up. She didn’t want him to know.” I take this in, not quite believing it. “Do you still see Lucifer? I mean besides from when he did… You know, that thing with your face.” “No. five years after my mother died, our father left us. Michael’s been taking care of us since, but as soon as Lucifer turned eighteen, he was asked to leave. He’s always been violent toward me and my siblings.” Cas says, his voice breaking a little.

“I’m so sorry about that. I didn’t know.” I said, taking his hand. He pulls it away from me though, and he closes his eyes. “Dean you don’t have to pretend to care. I know you don’t really want to have anything to do with me.” I take his hand again, uncertain of the point I’m trying to make.

“I’m not pretending. I’ve literally been obsessed with you for years. You’re the most special person I know.” Yeah great move Dean… Tell the guy you like that you’ve been obsessing over him. Fantastic plan! Nothing could go wrong with that…

Cas doesn’t seem creeped out though, in fact he’s just opened his eyes and is staring into mine with a loving look in his eyes. He holds that look for what feels like a couple of awkward hours, but it couldn’t have been more than two minutes. As I’m nervously anticipating an answer, Castiel’s face goes from love to complete horror to sadness.

“I’m not special Dean. I am fire-proof, but that doesn’t stop me from ruining everything I touch.” He says. I shake my head, not quite believing what I’m hearing. “Cas, no one is as special as you. Never forget that.”

We smile at each other, as I vow to myself to devote every day of my life to making him believe in my words. He squeezes my hand and I know. I know that he is so much more than he gives himself credit for. I know that, even though he can make anyone love him and do as he says, he won’t, because he’s just that good of a person.

Regardless of the fact that he’s kept his secret for so long, I know I can trust him. I know that I can date him and not worry about him intentionally hurting me.

I know that, when I set the world on fire by accident, he’ll still be standing next to me. Because he is special. Because he is fire-proof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it guys!  
> Hope you've enjoyed this!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Guys!  
> Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions as to how this story should continue!


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